Alexander Korda was born today in 1893. Though Hungarian, he emigrated to Britain and made a host of rattling good yarns films like The Drum and The Four Feathers extolling the virtues of the British Empire and the Raj. Winston Churchill got him a k; they don't make directors like that any more. My good lady, the DI, tells of many a Sunday afternoon when she was a child when she and her mother were taken hostage by her father to watch The Four Feathers just one more time. When stressed, she still can lapse unconsciously into a rendition of several minutes of the dialogue, absolutely word perfect, even after all this time.
In other news ...
Tomas de Torquemada died on this day in 1498. Posterity has been pretty kind to this man, whose name is largely unknown today. He was the architect of the Holy Inquisition which saw the torture and execution of thousands of innocent people all over Europe. He deserves to be up there with Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot etc. Spread the word. He wasn't Mr Nice Guy.
